NEW PUBLICATIONS. 265 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Travels in Nortfi America, in tiif, years 1841 -2; with Geological Observations 

 on the United States, Canada and Nova Scotia : By Charles Lyell, Esq. F.R.S. 

 In 2 vols. l2ino. Wiley & Putnam. 



It is rare, very rare, that a traveller, whose range of thought and 

 previous philosophical preparation so eminently qualify him for the 

 performance of a tour of scientific inquiry, as in the case of the 

 author of these volumes, writes out for the public his sentiments 

 and the results of his observations, Mr. Lyell, if we are rightly 

 informed, was educated for the bar; but having a predilection for 

 the more attractive and fascinating pursuits of the sciences, he has 

 devoted himself with astonishing zeal to their cultivation. Bringing 

 an acute and well regulated mind to bear upon them, he has not only 

 made them popular, but useful : he has not only kept up with their 

 advance himself, but has actually pushed them ahead. 



We must say one thing more of the author : he has not been a 

 mere fancy dealer in science, a sentimental versifier of its beauties ; 

 but has taken off his coat, and worked like a day laborer at twelve 

 shillings a day and found. Not that he is at all insensible to the 

 beauty, or indifferent to or unacquainted with the grandeur of his 

 favorite pursuit, but truth to him has been of more value ; and look- 

 ing at the nature of the case, he wisely judged, that to attain his 

 end, the only road to it was by the most patient and unwearied in- 

 vestigations in the field. Of all the sciences, geology has been Mr. 

 Lyell's favorite department, and the study of others has only been 

 made auxihary to this. It was to prosecute this branch, that led him 

 to visit us, and make the tour of this country. His work, however, 

 appears in the form of travels; and in them we find Mr. Lyell's views 

 of men and things, of people and institutions, intermixed with geolo- 

 gical dissertations, the latter appearing rather as an incident than 

 the main subject of discourse ; yet in some parts of his book, he 

 systematizes his observations, and they appear more in the light of 



